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Band/artist: Forwardhead
Title: Pieces
Released: 2007
Label: Hard Volume Records
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Track
listing:
1. Dark Curtain
2. Second Guess
3. Cycle
4. Binary
5. Dawning
6. Unrest
7. Answer
8. 11th Hour
9. Bring Me Down
10. Song for the Lost
11. Hope And Pray
12. Deliverance
13. 14 Cubed (live) |
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The Players
Craig Tambascio (bass, vocals), Darren
Wallach (drums), Ron Turner (vocals, guitar) |
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"Pieces" is the third
release from Maryland, USA based trio Forwardhead; a band that has been
at it for quite a few years now, releasing their debut album back in
2001.
 Musically,
this band plays some kind of mix of goth and alternative metal, spiced
with influences from prog metal. Their music has by others been compared
to Tool, Korn and Alice in Chains; personally I'll add a slight
influence from Pain of Salvation to that list. The guitar is the central
instrument in their musical universe; with slightly drawn out chords,
slow riffing and staccato riffing combined with more mellow sections
with acoustic guitars being central elements of most of the songs here.
The overall sound is dark and grim, at times to the point of creating
truly haunting atmospheres.
Good rhythms from bass and drums underlines the darkness in these songs,
and the melodic vocals of Ron Turner provides enough melody and tinge to
the songs to save them from becoming monotone. The group have also
been good at adding small sound elements to the songs; which is needed.
The music as such is mostly relatively simple; and adding some subtle
sounds to the songs adds elements that will keep the song interesting.
The band has also inserted several shorter mood pieces on this album,
dark and almost ambient sounding short instrumentals, which makes the
album as a whole much more interesting.
As for the songs here, they are a slightly mixed lot. My personal
favorites here are the mood pieces; which I do find more interesting in
themselves than most of the regular songs. Some of the regular songs are
on the same level as the mood pieces; "Second Guess" and the
instrumental "11th Hour" being my picks of those. There's nothing
bad on this record though, and fans of mainstream alternative and goth
metal may find these guys to be a refreshing addition to their music
collection, as Forwardhead are a step above most mainstream bands in
terms of complexity and strong moods.
Rating: 7 (out of 10)
Reviewer: Olav Björnsen
Visit the Artist’s
Website
Discography
Pieces (2007)
Elevate (2005)
Inside (2001)
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